Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

Italianamerican Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 16, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Scorsese Shorts.

There was a rather funny throwaway line in the recently reviewed mockumentary Brutal Massacre: A Comedy, where a hapless horror film director was discussing film shoots fraught with peril and disappointment. This director, the sort of guy who really wants to impress his interviewer even if he's manifestly short on any actually impressive achievements, mentions Apocalypse Now as a prime example of this phenomenon and then adds "just go ask Scorsese" to make his point. Those who aren't confused about Scorsese's filmography may think of his feature film career starting with at least Mean Streets, though diehard Scorsese fans will of course know about Boxcar Bertha and perhaps even Who's That Knocking at My Door? . But even before Who's That Knocking at My Door? came out in 1967, Scorsese had started making a name for himself with both documentaries and some more whimsically minded shorts, and this Criterion release aggregates several of them, giving fans an opportunity to see one of the titans of contemporary cinema beginning to define his style.

In a very real sense Italianamerican is a home movie by Martin Scorsese, since it does in fact feature his parents' home and, not so coincidentally, his parents. This is a sweet and heartfelt piece that is just suffused with the Scorseses' peculiar charisma, as well as the often funny and quite bracing bantering between Scorsese's wonderful mother and father. You get a whole family dynamic in a nutshell in this piece, and it's just touching and beautiful, especially for those of you who (like I am) may be a "first generation" native born American with the "immigrant experience" still a relatively recent imprint on your family's collective memory and/or history.

There are all sorts of analogs to Scorsese's later (ostensibly) fictional films, including a lot of material out and about in the Scorseses' neighborhood, where Scorsese is able to capture both the kind of controlled chaos and the resilient camaraderie of an urban environment that he featured in some of his best known titles. But it's the sweeter, more "interior" (in more ways than one), material that may really resonate the most for some viewers here, with Scorsese documenting his own family history and providing a kind of primer on a more general American Experience as a result.

Italianamerican Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All of the films included in Scorsese Shorts are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.33:1. Criterion's insert booklet lumps information about the transfers together as follows:

All five films are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the imae to maintain the proper screen format. The new digital transfers of Italianamerican and American Boy were created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 16 mm negative A/B rolls. The Big Shave, It's Not Just You, Murray!, and What's a Nice Girl Like Your Doing in a Place Like This? were created in 4K resolution from the original 16 mm reversal A/B rolls.

The original monaural soundtracks for Italianamerican and American Boy were remastered from 35 mm magnetic tracks. The original monaural soundtrack for The Big Shave was remastered from 16 mm magnetic tracks. The original monaural soundtracks for It's Not Just You, Murray! and What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? were remastered from 16 mm optical soundtrack positives. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.

American Boy; The Big Shave; It's Not Just You, Murray!; and What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? film elements courtesy of the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York. Italianamerican film element courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Italianamerican is one of the two color features in this set (the other is American Boy), and while it isn't mind blowingly suffused, the palette looks natural, with a solid accounting of both the interior confines of the Scorsese apartment and some of the interstitial outdoor material. Some of the hues, notably the wonderfully over the top wallpaper in Mrs. Scorsese's kitchen that offers a near riot of blue and green tones, can pop quite authoritatively. The presentation is pretty gritty looking, as befits its source format, and that and a prevalence of midrange shots can keep fine detail levels at bay on occasion, but the overall appearance here is winningly organic and authentic looking.

Italianamerican Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Italianamerican features an LPCM Mono track which supports the film's undemanding sonics perfectly well. Both the inside material with Mr. and Mrs. Scorsese (with occasional asides from Martin), as well as the at least relatively more boisterous outside scenes, feature problem free fidelity. Optional English subtitles are available.

Italianamerican Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements tied to this specific film on the disc. For the more generalist supplements that the disc does offer, please refer to the Scorsese Shorts Blu-ray review.

Italianamerican Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Home movies don't have to be boring. This is about as sweet a "memory book" for the Scorsese family as I could imagine. Technical merits are solid, and Italianamerican comes Highly recommended.